Expression mechanism for automatically-operated musical instruments.



No. 777.226. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

I. B. SMITH. .EXPRESSION MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2, 1904. K0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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1. B. SMITH. EXPRESSION MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. A'PPLIGATION FILED JULY 2,1904.

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I n I v v u u I a 5:255:55: 5: E55:E;g mgg g UNITED STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

IRVING B. SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE STOKES & SMITH 60., OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPO- RATION OF NEW JERSEY.

EXPRESSION MECHANISM FOR AUTOMAT SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,226, dated December 13, 1904.

Application filed July 2, 1904.

To (all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IRVING B. SMITH, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State 5 of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Expression Mechanism for Automatically-Operated Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to expression mechanism forautomatically-operated musical instruments; and it has for its object to pro- Vide manually-operable means under the control of the operator for varying the force of 5 the stroke or blow imparted to the sound-producing devices in such manner as to secure varied musical effects, either as regards a single note or tone or a group of notes or tones.

It is a well-known fact that the strength of the musical tones .will vary accordingly as the length of travel of the hammers is varied that is to say, assuming that a key is struck twice with the same degree of force and dur- 5 ing one stroke its corresponding hammer is allowed to travel its full distance, but during the other stroke the distance of travel of the hammer is shortened, the resultant musical tones will vary accordingly, the tone result- 3 ing from the long travel of the hammer being loud, and the tone resulting from the shorter travel of the hammer being correspondingly soft. Thus it will be understood that varied tone effects may be produced by simply chang- 35 ing the initial position of the hammers relatively to the strings just before the hammeractuating mechanism is brought into operation, and it is the provision of means for shifting the position of the hammers by hand 4 and at the will of the operator that constitutes the essence of the present invention.

It is not only desirable to vary the musical tones so as to accent a single note or group of notes, but it is also very desirable in order 45 to produce artistic musical effects to vary the tones progressively or gradually, so that there will be no appreciable break in the Serial No. 215,098. (No modeLI I blending of such tones. This is particularly important when it is desired to accent a run or any given group of notes independently I of others. In order to effect this gradation in the musical tones and also to permit any single note or group of notes at any portion of the keyboard to be properly accented, Iso construct and arrange the operative mechanism that the position of rest of a series of the hammers may be shifted relatively to the plane of the strings, whereby the stroke of the hammers varies progressively from end to end of the series, provision being made for simultaneously moving the entire range or series of hammers or only a section of the entire range or series.

Briefly and generally stated, the invention comprises in combination with the note-sounding devices (which may consist of the hammers or the entire action) means under the control of the performer for shifting the position of. rest of a 'series of said devices, whereby the length of stroke thereof will be varied progressively from end to end of the series, so that when said devices are actuated varied musical effects as regards tone volume will be produced.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown the invention as applied directly to the hammers of a piano-action; but it will be obvious that the same may be applied to the other parts of the action and the same results obtained without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Figure I is a sectional View of awell-known form of electric self-playing piano, showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the hammer-shifting mechanism constructed according to the present invention. Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the normal position of the hammers relatively to the strings. Fig. Iis a similar view showing the position of the hammers when bass notes only are to be accented. Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the position of the hammers when the treble notes only are to be ac- Fig. 6 1s a similar view showlng the cented.

position of the hammers when the middle ange of the notes are to be accented, and Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the position of the hammers when all the notes are to be accented.

Referring to the drawings, the referencenumeral 1 designates the usual piano-action, in which is embodied the hammer 2, which may be actuated to bring it into contact with the strings 3 of the musical instrument by any suitable automatic actuating mechanism, whether of the pneumatic, electric, or mechanical type. According to the present arrangement the hammers 2 are normally held in close proximity to the strings 3, so that ordinarily when the hammers are actuated pianissimo effects will be produced, and when it is desired to produce forte or fortissimo effects the hammers are permitted to recede the proper distance from the strings before they are actuated. The mechanism for changing the position of the hammers relatively to the strings, which constitutes the essence of the present invention, will now be described.

Secured in a removable manner to and projecting from the frame of the piano or from any other suitable part thereof are brackets 4, 5, 6, and 7. J ournaled in the ends of the brackets 4 and 5 is a rock-shaft 8, having secured to the outer end thereof a downwardlyextending arm 9, and at its inner end is secured an outwardly and substantially hori- Zontal arm 10. Surrounding the rock-shaft 8 and journaled in the bracket 5 is a sleeve 12, carrying a downwardly-extending arm 13 and an outwardly and substantially horizontal arm 14. A rock-shaft 15 is journaled in the brackets 6 and 7, said rock-shaft being arranged in line with the shaft 8, and on the outer end of this shaft 15 is fixed a downwardly-extending arm 16, and on its inner end is fixed an outwardly and substantially horizontal arm 17. It will be understood that the arms 9, 13, and 16 are in substantial alinement, and freely supported upon the ends of these arms is a sectional bar or rail composed of two parts or sections 18 and 19, the outer ends of the said bars fitting over reduced portions 20 of the arms 9 and 16, while the inner ends thereof are overlapped and fit over the reduced. end 21 of the arm 13. It will be seen by referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings that the members 18 and 19 of the said sectional bar are located directly behind the shanks 22 of the pianohammers 2, so that when the said bar is moved forward in a direction toward the strings 3 or rearward away therefrom it will be seen that the hammers 2 will be moved accordingly therewith. The mechanism for moving the sectional bar, and with it the hammers, will now be described.

Located at any convenient point on the musical instrument, preferably beneath the keyboard thereof, are three levers 23, 24, and 25, the lever 23, through the rod 23, serving to 1 control the movement of one end of the bar 18, the lever 25, through the rod 25, serving to control the outer end of the bar 19, and the lever 24, through the rod 24, serving to control the jointed ends of the two bar-sections 18 19. These levers are pivoted, as at 26, and each carries at its end a finger-button 27, as shown, the button on the lever 23 hearing the character B, representing the bass keys or strings of the piano, the button on the lever 24 hearing the letter M, designating the middle keys or strings of the piano, and the button on thelever25 bearing the letter T, indicating the treble keys or strings of the piano. Each of the lovers 23, 24, and 25 is normally held elevated at its forward end by means of a spring 28, the action of said springs being to normally hold the forward end of the levers elevated in such manner as to rock the shafts 8, 12, and 15, and with them the arms 9, 13, and 16 and the sectional bar 18 and 19, so as to hold the hammers normally in close proximity to the piano-strings.

It will be understood from the foregoing that ordinarily if the bars 18 and 19 are allowed to remain in their normal position the hammers will strike the strings rather softly, so as to produce pianissimo effects. If it is desired, for instance, to accent a note or a group of notes in the bass, the button on the lever 23 will be depressed, which will rock the shaft 8, and with it the arm 9, resulting in throwing the outer end of the bar 18 outward, and thus causing all the hammers for the bass strings to move outward on an oblique line relatively to the plane of the strings, as illustrated in Fig. 4, so as to permit said hammers to move through their full stroke, or substantially so, and thus give a forte effect to the note or notes sounded. So, also, if it is desired to ac cent a note or group of notes in the treble, in this case the outer end of the lever 25 will be depressed, which will rock the shaft 15 and its arm 16, so as to cause the outer end of the bar 19 to recede from the strings, and thus permit the hammers to move outward, as shown in Fig. 5, so that when they are actuated from this position a forte effect will be produced. Likewise, with regard to the middle range of the keyboard, by depressing the button on the middle lever 24 the sleeve 12, with its arm 13, will he rocked so as to cause the hinged or overlapping ends of the rod 18 19 to be moved outward away from the middle range of strings on oblique lines relatively to the plane of the strings, as more clearly shown in Fig. 6, and when in this po sition such keys as are struck through the middle range will be accented. Obviously by simultaneously depressing all three levers 23, 24, and 25 both bar-sections 18 and 19 will be moved outward in a right line, thus causing all the hammers to recede, so that all notes will be sounded wi-th fortissimo effects, de-

pending upon the amount of such movements.

One of the salient features of the invention is the idea of means for shifting the position of rest of a series of the hammers, whereby the stroke of the latter will be varied progressively from end to end of the series, which results in a perfect blending of the musical tones and also enables the aecenting of a single note or group of notes, while others are subdued, according to the skill and musical tastes of the performer. It will be understood, of course, that the tone volume will depend entirely upon the distance of the hammers from the strings when the piano-aetion is operated, and this distance is of course controlled entirely by the amount of depression of the operating-levers, and as these are under the control of the performer awide range of variation in tone volume is possible.

The improved mechanism herein shown is very simple in construction and may be easily and quickly applied to pianos as now ordinarily constructed without in any manner changing or defacing the same, and while in the present instance I have shown the operating keylevers 23 24: 25 as being applied directly to the under side of the piano-keyboard it will be understood that the same may be otherwise applied directly to the piano. If the hammermoving mechanism is applied and used in connection with detachable self-playing mech-' anism of the type wherein the actuating means is contained in a separate case, then, of course, the arrangement of levers would be modified to suit such construction.

The means for moving the hammers 2 in the present showing consists of two bar-sections 18 19; but it will be apparent that I may make the bar in three or more sections, and thus secure a wider variation in tone effects. In this case I will of course have a separate opcrating-lever for each bar-section and for each joint between the bars; but as this change requires onlyaduplication of the parts shown it is-not deemed necessary to add any further illustration thereof.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings I have shown my improvements as applied to a piano in which is embodied a well-known type of self-playing mechanism comprising a rotary drum or shaft a, friction-shoes 7), electromagnets c for throwing the shoes into contact with the drum or shaft, and striker-rods (Z, each pivotally connected at one end to one end of the shoes and having its other end disposed beneath the rear end of a piano-key The operation of this mechanism is such that when the electromagnets c are energized through any suitable contact device controlled by a music-sheet (not shown) the shoes will be thrown into contact with the continuously-rotating drum or shaft a, resulting in thrusting upward the striker-rods (Z, and thus actuating the pianokeys 0 with a uniform blow or with substantially equal force. By my attachment it will be evident that the resulting musical tones may be varied at the will of the performer.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

1. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of hammers, of means for shifting the position of rest thereof whereby the length of stroke of the successive hammers varies from end to end of said series.

2. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of sound-producing devices, of means for shifting the position of rest thereof, whereby the length of stroke of successive devices gradually increases from end to end of the series.

3. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of sound-producing devices and the strings on which they are adapted to act, of means un der the control of the operator for shifting the position of said devices away from' the plane of the strings to increase to different extents the length of stroke of successive devices from end to end of the series.

4:. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of sound-producing devices and the strings on which they act, of means under the control of the performer for shifting the position of rest of a series of said devices independently of others away from or toward the plane of the strings, to increase or decrease to different extents the length of stroke of successive devices of the series from end to end.

5. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of sound-producing devices and the strings on which they are adapted to act, of means for moving the said series away from and into a position oblique to the plane of the strings to gradually increase the length of stroke of the said devices from end to end of the series.

6. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with a series of hammers and the strings on which they act, of means under the control of the performer for moving some of the hammers of the series, independently of others, away from and into a position oblique to the plane of the strings to gradually increase the length of stroke thereof.

7. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a bar engaging said hammers when they are at rest, and means for moving said bar into a position oblique to the plane of the strings, whereby the line of hammers assumes a corresponding oblique position and thus graduallyincreases the length of stroke of the hammers.

8. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a sectional bar engaging said hammers when they are at rest, and means for moving a section of said bar into a position oblique to the plane of the strings, whereby the line of hammers engaged by said bar-section assumes a corre sponding oblique position and thus gradually increases the length of stroke of the hammers.

9. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a sectional bar for engaging said hammers, and means for moving the adjacent ends of the bar-sections toward or "from the strings to cause the line of hammers to assume positions oblique to the plane of the strings to gradu ally vary the length of stroke of the hammers.

10. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a pivoted bar constituting a rest for a series of hammers, and means for moving a pivoted portion of the bar toward or from the strings to cause the said series of hammers to assume a position oblique to the plane of the strings and thus gradually vary the length of stroke of the hammers from end to end of the series.

11. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the series of hammers and the strings on which they act, of a sectional bar engaging said hammers, and means under the control of the performer for moving the ends of the bar-sections toward or from the strings to cause the hammers to assume different oblique positions relatively to the plane of the strings whereby to gradually decrease or increase the length of the stroke of the hammers, from end to end of the series.

12. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, or a sectional bar engaging the hammers, separate rock-shafts, an independent connection between each rock-shaft and a bar-section, and means under the control of the performer for rocking either of said shafts independently of the other to cause a bar-section and the hammers engaged thereby to assume a position oblique to the plane of the strings and thus gradually increase the length of stroke oi the said hammers.

13. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a sectional bar engaging said hammers, separate rockshafts, an independent connection be tween each rock shaft and a bar-section, and a separate lever under the control of the performer for operating either of said connections independently of the others to effect a like independent movement of the bar-sections and hammers and cause the latter to assume a position oblique to the plane of the strings and thus gradually increase the length of stroke of the hammers.

14c. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, oi. a movable bar against which said hammers rest, means normally acting to hold the bar and the hammers in close proximity to the strings, and means under the control of the operator for retracting said bar and the hammers to cause them to assume a position oblique to the plane of the strings and thus gradually increase the length of stroke of the hammers.

15. In expression mechanism for musical instruments, the combination with the hammers and the strings on which they act, of a movably-mounted sectional bar against which the hammers rest, means normally acting to hold the said bar-sections and the hammers in close proximity to the strings, and means un der the control of the performer for moving either bar-section independent of the other to cause the hammers resting thereagainst to assume a position oblique to the plane of the strings whereby to increase the length of stroke of the said hammers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IRVING B. SMIIH.

IVitnesses:

Geo. Z. SUTTON, CnAs. BOWMAN. 

